Engraving and etchingexpand_more
Gift of the Estate of Kemper Kirkpatrickexpand_more P.92.8.121
Italian author Pietro Aretino (1492-1556) ingratiated himself with Renaissance princes by having his portrait painted and delivered to their doorstep. According to the English art critic Roger E. Fry, he was "a professional flatterer, bully, and tout." Enea Vico gave the imposing Aretino the aspect of a Roman emperor and framed him within a medallion. In this context the grotesque elements lodged in the margin--masks, animal heads, ripe fruits and vegetables--may function like the marginalia of illuminated manuscripts; that is, as expressions of covert appetites and desires.
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